Roller-type hair curler adapted for intercoupling



March 18, 1969 w. E. THACKERAY ROLLER-TYPE HAIR CURLER ADAPTED FOR INTERCOUPLING FIG.

FIG. 2

Filed Oct. 2:5, 1965 FIG. 5

FIG.6

INVENTOR.

WILLIAM E.THACKERAY 2| BY MA as ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,433,233 ROLLER-TYPE HAIR CURLER ADAPTED FOR INTERCGUPLING William E. Thackeray, Ogden, Utah, assignor of one-half to Norman F. Agricola, Ogden, Utah Filed Oct. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 502,832 US. Cl. 13240 13 Claims Int. Cl. A45d 2/14 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Hair curlers of roller-type adapted for use singly or in intercoupled multiple. Each curler comprises a roller of tubular, relative thin-walled formation having open ends. At least one of the curlers also comprises a flexible, hairretaining bar having a flat hair-engaging surface intermediate its ends, which ends are formed as resilient hooks for snapping over the tube wall at opposite ends of the roller so as to press the hair, that is wound on the roller, against such roller, while leaving the tube wall free at both ends of the roller for receiving other attachment hooks. The other hair curlers for multiple use may have the afore-described roller and bar components, with the bar being used to couple contiguous rollers together, or they may be constructed with swivel hook latching means mounted within the roller, inwardly of the respective ends thereof, so as to leave such ends free for receiving hook members of additional hair curlers.

This invention relates to roller hair curlers.

It is common for an individual desirous of obtaining a smoothly curled or waved coiffure to bind the hair in rolled tresses for a period ranging from less than an hour to overnight. Various roller hair curlers have previously been developed for this purpose, however, they produce undesirable results because either the rolled tresses can be easily loosened after they have been formed on the roller, or creases are formed in the hair. Since a user of roller type hair curlers may frequently find it convenient to install the curlers before retiring for the night, it is necessary that they be firmly held in place so that they will not be dislodged by head movements during sleep, Because hair pins or clips are used to hold the hair on the prior art rollers, undesirable creases in the resulting curls are formed.

It was an object in the making of this invention to provide a set of roller hair curlers on which tresses of hair could be securely and easily attached and rolled. Another object of this invention was to provide as a single hair curler of the set, a curler that could be firmly positioned and attached to the hair as an anchoring roller for the set.

A principal feature of this invention is the provision of a roller set including an independent, anchoring hair curler having means to secure it to the hair, and dependent rollers having means for demountably attaching them to anchoring rollers and to other dependent rollers. The anchoring hair curler includes a roller tube and a hair retaining bar fitted to the ends of such tube by means of integral clips which permit the bar to be easily installed on the tube and moved around its periphery, tightening the hair rolled thereon and securing the tube tightly against the users scalp.

There is also provided, as a dependent hair curler of this invention, a roller tube with permanently installed latch means for demountably attaching it to other roller tubes.

An added feature of this invention is the provision of a multi-purpose hair retaining bar which can be used either 3,433,233 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 as part of a two-piece hair curler, or to attach one roller tube to another.

Additional objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred specific embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing as an example of how the generic inventive concepts disclosed can be applied in practice.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a two piece anchoring hair curler in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2, a view looking from either end of the anchoring hair curler shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3, a side elevation view of a hair retaining bar used in the two piece hair curler shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4, a view in side elevation of an alternative embodiment of a hair retaining bar of the type shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5, a side elevation view of an anchoring hair curler tube having a portion thereof broken away for convenience of illustration, attached to a dependent roller tube, shown fragmentarily and in cross-section; by means of the retaining bar of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6, a side elevation view of a dependent roller tube according to this invention having a coupling latch means shown in different reciprocating positions at the left and right hand ends;

FIG. 7, a view looking from the right hand end of the dependent roller shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side cross sectional elevation taken on line 88 of FIG. 7, and showing the positions of the illustrated coupling latch means of the roller tube as it is attached to another roller tube shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 9, a fragmentary perspective view showing two roller tubes connected with a coupling latch means according to this invention;

FIG. 10, a side elevation view showing a hair roller set comprising an anchoring roller having a dependent roller of the type illustrated in FIG. 5 coupled thereto;

FIG. 11, a side elevation view looking from either end of the two rollers shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12,, an enlarged detailed view of the coupling latch means shown in FIGURES 5 and 8;

FIG. 13, a right hand end elevation view of the latch means shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14, a detailed view of a pivot ball assembly which is a component of the coupling latch means of FIG. 12;

FIG. 15, an enlarged perspective view of a hook forming part of the latch means of FIG. 12; and

FIG. 16, a perspective view showing the hair roller set of this invention as installed in the hair of a user.

Referring to the drawing:

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, two piece anchoring hair curler 10 has a hair retaining bar 12 which extends the length of tube 11 and has, at its ends, inturned hook portions 13 which are preferably the curvilinear shape illustrated, and outturned end portions 14. The.

hook sections 13 are dimensioned so that the hair retaining bar 12 can be snapped in place on tube 11 with ease; and can be as easily removed by simply applying a slight upward and outward force to outturned end portion 14. When in place, the hair retaining bar 12 can be rotated around the periphery of roller tube 11 by pushing and sliding it.

In using the roller set of this invention, a stress of hair 15, FIG. 16, is first wrapped tightly around roller tube 11 and then hair retaining bar 12 is placed over the hair and snapped onto tube 11. To tighten the rolled tress 15 on the roller tube 10, and to position the two piece hair curler 10 close to the scalp of the user, hair retaining bar 12 is rotated around the periphery of the tube in a clockwise direction. The hair will then be held securely in place by the bar. When a bulky tress of hair is wrapped on tube 11, bar 12 will be held even more tightly in place, since the upward extension of hair tends to raise its middle portion, thus drawing curvilinear hook portions 13 more tightly on the edges of tube 11. Since hair retaining bar 12 has a broad flat surface and is flexible, creasing of the hair in contact with it will be substantially eliminated.

Hair retaining bar 12, by being dimensioned to have a large hook portion, can also be used as a coupling means to attach a dependent roller tube to an independently anchored roller tube. Of course bar 12, so dimensioned, can still be used as a hair retainer.

FIG. 4 shows an alternative embodiment according to this invention of hair retaining bar 12. In this embodiment, there is provided integral catch 16 to hook over the edge of a dependent roller tube as shown in FIG. 6, to couple it to an independent roller. This type of hair retaining bar can also be used for its initial function, as a hair retainer, and, when there is a bulky tress of hair between the bar 13, and roller tube 11, the catch can be used in place of hook 13 to attach the bar to the roller tube.

The roller tubes and hair retaining bars of this invention can be made of any suitable available materials, with the preferred material being a rigid plastic for both members. Of course, the tube can readily be made from light metal such as aluminum or any other suitable materials of construction.

The surface of roller tube 11 preferably has a striated section 17 located at each end thereof. This construction has been found to be advantageous from the standpoint that, when rotating the hair retaining bar 12 around the periphery of roller 11, the individual stria serve to hold retaining bar 12 in the position it is placed. These stria are of a dimention such that they slightly contact the surface of the hair retaining bar, to provide a frictional engagement, however, they do not extend far enough to interfere with the rotation of retaining bar 12 around the periphery of tube 11. The surface of tube 11 can be perforated (not shown) if desired to allow air to circulate through the rolled tress.

For demountably attaching the single piece roller tube shown in FIG. to other roller tubes, there is provided a latch means as shown in FIG. 12. The preferred latch means illustrated includes a swivel hook 18 pivotally mounted to pivot ball 19 which is attached by means of a flange 20 to support block 21.

Swivel hook 18 comprises two mutually spaced structural supports 22, having directly opposite holes 22a located approximately in the middle thereof. The supports 22 are spaced from one another, and the holes 22a are sized, to dimensions that permit the swivel hook 18 to be installed on pivot ball 19 and held in place on the pivot ball by the extension of a portion of the ball into such holes in the manner of a ball and socket joint. Due to this construction, swivel hook 18 can be moved to any desired radial position with respect to the roller on which it is mounted.

From the mutually spaced structural supports 22 hook arm 23 extends, which may or may not have a lug 24. When the lug is used, it facilitates operation of the swivel hook 18 with a finger of the user. Knob 25 is provided on the end of hook 18 as an aid in positioning and hooking it to another roller and to eliminate sharp ends on the hook arm which could cause injury. Hook 18, when positioned on pivot ball 19, reciprocates both longitudinally and transversely with respect to the pivot ball. Support block 21 is positioned in roller tube 26 in a manner such that hook arm 23 extends the desired distance therefrom, as shown in FIG. 8.

When in use, the swivel hook latch means, as shown in FIG. 12, serve to attach the roller 26 to another roller .4 27, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8, by merely placing the roller 26 adjacent roller 27 and pivoting swivel hook 18 so that hook arm 18 will engage roller 27. As illustrated in FIG. 16, a tress of hair 15 can be wrapped around roller 26, such roller then being attached to a roller which has already been installed in the hair, such as the two piece roller 10, as shown. It has been found that with this means of attachment, the hair on roller 26 does not become loosened.

Because support block 21 is permanently attached to roller tube 26, the user need not worry about dropping hair pins, clips or any of the other devices heretofore commonly used for coupling two hair rollers together.

Due to the natural resiliency of the hair 15 between them, rollers 26 and 27, FIG. 16, are forced apart. Hook 18 is then maintained in firm engagement with the inside surface of roller 26 and will not come free during normal use.

The rollers of this invention can be used in combinations as shown in FIGS. 10 and 16, or, when all of their characteristics permit, can be used alone. Although all possible combinations have not been illustrated, it should be clear that a series of curlers of either the type shown in FIG. 1 or the type shown in FIGS. 5 and 8, could be used together.

Whereas there are here illustrated and specifically described certain preferred constructions of the invention which are presently regarded as the best modes of carrying out the invention, it should be understood that various changes can be made and other constructions adopted without departing from the inventive subject matter particularly pointed out and claimed herebelow.

I claim:

1. A hair curler adapted to be used alone or in latched association with other hair curlers comprising a roller of tubular, relatively thin-walled formation having open ends; and

a flexible, hair-retaining bar approximately commensuate in length with the length of said roller and having a flat hair-engaging surface intermediate its ends, said bar having its opposite ends formed as resilient hooks for snapping over the tube wall at respective opposite ends of said roller so as to retain the bar in close proximity to the tube while allowing the bar to be slidably rotated around the periphery of the tube and leaving the tube wall free at both ends of the roller for receiving other attachment hooks.

2. An anchoring hair curler as recited in claim 1, wherein said anchoring bar has integral catch portions adjacent said integral hooks.

3. A hair curler as recited in claim 1, wherein said hooks are curved and have an inturned portion that engages the edge of the roller tube when the bar is snapped thereon, and an outturned end portion.

4. A hair curler of tubular formation adapted to be attached to a similar hair curler in side-by-side relationship therewith, comprising a roller of tubular, relatively thin-walled formation having open ends; and

latch means mounted Within said roller, inwardly of the respective ends thereof so as to leave said ends free.

5. A two-piece hair curler as recited in claim 1, wherein said roller has friction-providing striations extending about opposite end portions thereof externally and circumferentially thereof.

6. A hair curler as recited in claim 4, wherein said latch means comprise a swivel hook at each end of the roller tube.

7. A hair curler as recited in claim 6, wherein the latch means further comprises a mounting installed in said tube and a pivot ball connected to said mounting; and said swivel hook includes a socket with a hook arm rigidly connected thereto, said socket being positioned on said pivot ball in the manner of a ball and socket joint.

8. A hair roller set, comprising in combination an anchoring hair curler including a roller tube and means for retaining hair thereon;

at least one dependent hair curler including a roller tube; and

coupling means for attaching the dependent hair curler to said anchoring hair curler and other dependent hair curlers in side-by-side relationship.

9. A hair roller set as recited in claim 8, wherein said means for retaining hair comprises a flexible one piece hair retaining bar adapted to extend the length of the roller tube and having integral hooks at each end to retain the bar in close proximity to the tube while allowing the bar to be slidably rotated around the periphery of said tube; and

said coupling means includes a latch means permanently connected to the roller tube of said dependent hair curlers, for demountably attaching the dependent hair curler to the anchoring hair curler and other dependent hair curlers.

10. A hair roller set as recited in claim 9, wherein said latch means comprises a swivel hook at each end of the roller tube.

11. A hair roller set as recited in claim 9, wherein said latch means further comprises mountings installed in said tube at each end thereof, and pivot balls connected to said mountings; and said swivel hooks include a socket With a hook arm rigidly connected thereto, said socket being positioned on said pivot ball in the manner of a ball and socket joint.

12. A hair roller set as recited in claim 8, wherein said coupling means comprises a flexible one piece bar adapted to extend the length of a roller tube and having integral hooks at each end.

13. A hair roller set as recited in claim 12, wherein said ends of said bar each have an integral catch portion adjacent said integral hooks.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,434,279 l/1948 McDonough et al. l327 2,630,809 3/1953 Lewis et al. 13240 2,763,270 9/1956 Carey 132-40 2,862,508 12/1958 Campbell 132-39 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 132-39 

